DEET from above

The first confirmed case of serious West Nile Virus was reported to have stricken a Douglas County man last week.

It has been 13 years since the disease was first detected in Douglas County back in the summer of 2004, when we started finding dead crows, magpies and jays lying about.

As is fitting for Nevada, one of the first concerns was getting horses inoculated against the disease, which is fatal to them. There is no inoculation for humans.

Symptoms tend to be mild in most people, and it's entirely possible that many of us have contracted the disease over the years and put it down to the rabbitbrush bloom or a summer cold.

But for some, the disease can cause encephalitis, in which the brain swells, or other dangerous health problems.

And we caution our readers not to take too much stock in where someone who contracts the disease is from. Just because a Douglas resident contracted the disease, doesn't mean they contracted it here, necessarily.

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Both people and mosquitoes tend to be pretty far-ranging, so there's no telling what geographic area someone was bitten.

We do know Douglas County Mosquito Abatement is out fogging the damper locations around Douglas County.

The September issue of Consumer Reports gave their recommendations for the best mosquito repellents. Of the nine recommended repellents, two-thirds contain DEET, which also is what health experts recommend.

Wherever you go in the Sierra Front, make sure and use mosquito repellent.

Nevada is a gambling state, but taking a chance on West Nile Virus seems like a bad bet to us.